The State Worker

Get used to this, state workers. The number of California state civil servants will be an ongoing topic, we think, all the way up to the November 2010 election. So far, GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman has talked about it the most, hence her prominence on this blog, including this post on Thursday.

Bee Capitol Bureau Chief Dan Smith passed along a transcript of an interview Whitman gave on Tuesday to ABC News reporter Teddy Davis. The candidate lays out how she figures the state should drop 40,000 jobs from its payroll:

Click the following link to read an excerpt from the interview.

This is the fourth and final installment in our mini-series on Monday's furlough hearings in Alameda Superior Court, presided by Judge Frank Roesch. Click the following links if you need to catch up:

And you can click here to view the most recent Furlough Fights spreadsheet, which details all 23 furlough lawsuits.

The pace of the hearings has quickened. Roesch has told attorneys to avoid retreading ground covered in earlier arguments, and assures them that he'll consider all the points made as he decides each case. Now it's Felix De La Torre's turn to take a swing at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's furlough policy on behalf of SEIU Local 1000.

Other lawyers have argued that the administration should have analyzed, department-by-department, the impact of furloughs before the governor issued his executive order, in keeping with Government Code 19851. De La Torre raises the legal bar higher:

"The governor not only to has to show it doesn't hurt (departments)," he says. "He has to show it does something for them."

Instead, the policy takes a shortcut. "(Schwarzenegger) wanted the most efficient, easiest route," De La Torre says.

Click the following link to read Roesch's compliment (sort of) to Schwarzenegger.

GOP candidate Meg Whitman's plan for shrinking the state workforce appears to have evolved from layoffs to attrition, although the details remain sketchy.

One of The Bee's sister papers, The Tribune in San Luis Obispo, has a story today with this lead:

California GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman says she would "skinny down the bureaucracy" if she is elected, saving 12,000 jobs a year for three years by not hiring people to replace state employees who leave.

Here's a timeline of Bee reports on Whitman's state workforce cuts:

Click the following link to read the rest of this post.

This is the third installment in our blog mini-series about what happened on Monday in Alameda Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch's courtroom as lawyers debated state worker furloughs. Click here to read part 1. This link will open part 2.

And you can click here to view the most recent Furlough Fights spreadsheet, which details all 23 furlough lawsuits, including the four cases argued on Monday.

Until now, union attorneys and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's lawyers have done all of the talking. But now it's Harvey Liederman's turn to speak.

A tall and trim man in a navy blue suit, he's representing CalPERS and CalSTRS.

Liederman starts by rebuffing the assertion made by the governor's attorneys that Schwarzenegger's furlough order is an exercise of executive authority that the court shouldn't review. "Courts do it all the time," he says.

Then he picks up on the argument started by CASE attorney Patrick Whalen: Employees whose pay comes from special funds shouldn't be subject to furloughs.

Click the following link to read more.

CalPERS has revised its employee gift policy, an early move in the fund's launches a wide-ranging review of its ethical standards. Click here to read the memo to employees. This link will open the policy language.

As Bee colleague Dale Kasler reports today, CalPERS is on a mission to clean up its tarnished image after disclosing a former board member has earned more than $60 million in "placement" fees for helping arrange meetings that led to fund investments. No one has been charged with breaking the law. CalPERS has hired an outside firm to investigate.

The fund has also tightened its policy on placement fee disclosures and supports draft legislation requiring placement agents to register as lobbyists. Controller John Chiang and Treasurer Bill Lockyer, both CalPERS board members, are writing the bill.

Blog backs review your thoughtful and provocative online comments, amplify points, answer questions, correct our mistakes and humbly accept your warranted criticism.

Nov. 5 Column extra: Are state workers enabling bad government?

It would be interesting to see a story about how many state personnel have retired or quit due to the furloughs. I'm (sic) my agency the retirees are leaving in droves.

It's difficult to determine why people retire or leave state service. We've been told the state doesn't have a standardized exit interview process. It's clear that an increasing number are leaving and that the pace has picked up since furloughs started. Here's a story we wrote about the phenomenon.

The Legislative Analyst's Office has released its general fund forecast. As expected, the numbers are grim:

... the state must address a General Fund budget problem of $20.7 billion between now and the time the Legislature enacts a 2010-11 state budget plan. The budget problem consists of a $6.3 billion projected deficit for 2009-10 and a $14.4 billion gap between projected revenues and spending in 2010-11. Addressing this large shortfall will require painful choices--on top of the difficult choices the Legislature made earlier this year.

A couple of paragraphs of particular interest to state employees:

Click the following link to read more about the LAO's budget forecast.

This is the second installment about what happened on Monday in Alameda Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch's courtroom as lawyers debated state worker furloughs. Click here to read part 1. And you can click here to view the most recent Furlough Fights spreadsheet, which details all 23 furlough lawsuits.

The mid-morning break ends at 10:45. Attorneys for the governor and CCPOA again stand before Roesch, who asks whether the union had asked for an exemption. Neither side says that they are aware of anything like that. Schwarzenegger lawyer David Tyra notes that CCPOA isn't timid about pressing legal and procedural buttons to get what it wants. "CCPOA is a very active union," he says.

Gregg McLean Adam insists that "the law is being violated right now" because of arguments he made earlier. While 15 percent of CCPOA members may have redeemed all of their furlough hours, "this case is about the other 85 percent." CCPOA isn't even challenging the governor's executive order, Adam says, "We're challenging the implementation."

Roesch takes the matter under submission. "I'll have something for you in the mail," he says.

The CCPOA attorneys step aside as the judge announces the next case, California Attorneys, Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers in State Employment v. Schwarzenegger.

Click the link below to read the rest of this post.

It's been 10 months since Gov. Arnold started furloughing workers. Meanwhile, the number of full-time state employees has continued to increase, mitigating some of the savings from the furloughs. Use this interactive site, built by Bee colleague Phillip Reese to track state wages and payroll, hiring and the number of part-timers.

CalPERS Board of Administration candidates Cathy Hackett and J.J. Jelincic made a Monday appearance on Jeffrey Callison's public radio show, Insight, on KXJZ (90.9 FM). If you missed it, click here to download the podcast. The discussion starts about 12 minutes into the show.

The discussion touches on the role of placement agents, the fund's investment strategy, the board's responsibilities to members, changes that the candidates want to see, corporate governance policies, the fund's viability and more.

Watch this blog for video interviews we've lined up with Hackett and Jelincic. And remember, board election ballots have to be in to CalPERS by Dec. 4.